The heat, dust and gases produced in basic oxygen process steelmaking furnaces require the use of hoods and stacks for containing and drawing them off prior to their cleaning and subsequent exhaust to the environment. Such gas hoods and stacks located above the furnace leading to the gas-cleaning and dustcollecting facilities are water-cooled in their entirety. Of memberane-type construction, they are cooled by water flowing in steel tubing spaced very close together. Such tubing is generally circular in cross-section and, due to the intense environment it is subjected to, corrodes, rusts and develops leaks after relatively short periods of use.
The cooling tubes in a basic oxygen process furnace gas hood are so numerous that they are constantly being repaired. Repair generally consists of cutting out the damaged or leaking section of tubing and welding in a new length of tube. While the repair of tubing is certainly efficacious, the efficiency and speed with which such repairs are made under present practices leaves much to be desired.